Shopping for an E53...

[OptimusPriM5]

Originally Posted by Andy_W

It was the lack of self-awareness on the airbag thing, to me. I get what you are saying.

I do need to drive one, but that one is over an hour away.

I would hope they would honor their sale price as I *tried* to drive it the Saturday after Black Friday...we'll see if they ever contact me back.

Honestly, an hour is nothing. Ive driven as far away as > 9 hours, 1 way, to drive a vehicle. One was actually an x5 south of me, colossal waste of time but to me the hunt is my favorite part too.

Make sure you get clarification on the idle/coil pack issue you mentioned if that was truly an issue.

Good luck!

[snik]

I got mine from off this forum. All of my Bimmers have been found and bought from forum members.
I flew from San Antonio to Albany NY to get it. Drove it back. Small hiccups, but nothing crazy. I think they were just from going from barely driven the last two years, to running back to Texas at a brisk pace.
One of the reasons I picked it over the local and closer ones was air suspension delete and extensive service history.



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[bcredliner]

Used car prices are negotiable and used cars have very high markups. Dealers always leave some room for negotiation--drop the price to close the sale. You will be able to purchase the vehicle at less than their sale price if you negotiate.

I don't believe the salesman is going to give you his bottom line price unless you are face to face. Key to negotiation is to decide the maximum amount you will pay for the vehicle and be prepared to walk out if their price exceeds it and be prepared to buy it that day if it doesn't. If possible, do some comparison shopping for other X5s within 250 miles to help establish your walkaway price and that you can tell the salesman you have another one you are interested in at a lower price that he can verify on cars.com or auto trader. Also check blue book wholesale price estimate for the one you really want to buy as it will be close to what the dealer has in the X5. It's good to know how long the X5 has been on the lot. If it has been on the lot for 2 or 3 weeks, certainly over 30 days that works in your favor, they got to move it, move it, move it.

My bet is they were always going to fix the problems. They are not going turn away a serious buyer if they have not already done so. They will throw that in to try to justify a higher sell price. They would just own up and tell you they will fix them if you make a refundable deposit on the X5. Regardless a PPI inspection at a well recommended shop that specializes in BMW is critical.

[oldskewel]

Originally Posted by Andy_W

I did not. Salesman contacted me back and told me the window regulator was fixed and asked if I wanted to do a test drive. Then he said "The car is good to drive. There is an airbag light on that we are going to fix but other than that car is good". Really?...

Regarding the airbag light, it is almost certainly a false error caused by the regulator repair.

When you have the door panel off to repair the regulator, for safety and convenience it is standard practice to disconnect the battery and then unplug and remove the airbag. Then, during the regulator install, there will probably be a need to move the window up/down, so the battery gets reconnected. When the battery is reconnected with the airbag disconnected, it sets the airbag light. That light stays on forever until it is reset with a special tool.

So yes, quite the rookie mistake for a dealer to make, but almost certainly not a real airbag problem, and it would take me about 50 seconds to reset that light on my car with my $20 eBay bought reset tool. I can't imagine it's much harder than that for the professionals.

So it's not like the airbag light was on all the time and they never told you about it. They just messed up and the sales guy may not have understood what I wrote above, which points to a simple reset being needed.

Not trying to defend this dealer, in fact I'd never buy a used car of any kind from a dealer, and I don't even let dealers touch my cars other than for warranty or recall work.

[Andy_W]

Thx for the input all. We'll see if the salesperson ever contacts me back...

[Andy_W]

So, we visited the dealer and test drove it. The good news is, no rattles of any type at cold start so low probability of timing chain guide issues. Also felt solid on the road... suspension was good. The bad? Oil leak, somewhere in the front of the engine. The dealer has no intention of fixing the rear airbag issue, either. We also drove a 35d E70 and we both liked the E53 better. Overall, the dealer didn't seem very interested in selling the car...and didn't max my professionalism meter when the car was literally out of gas when we went to first start it. As in, would not run.

Anyway, we ended up test driving a 2006 Range Rover HSE and both my wife and I have that one at the top of the list now. Which makes me a little sad, since I am a BMW guy. Oh well, ceste la vie! Appreciate all the advice.

[scourtaud23]

Originally Posted by Andy_W

So, we visited the dealer and test drove it. The good news is, no rattles of any type at cold start so low probability of timing chain guide issues. Also felt solid on the road... suspension was good. The bad? Oil leak, somewhere in the front of the engine. The dealer has no intention of fixing the rear airbag issue, either. We also drove a 35d E70 and we both liked the E53 better. Overall, the dealer didn't seem very interested in selling the car...and didn't max my professionalism meter when the car was literally out of gas when we went to first start it. As in, would not run.

Anyway, we ended up test driving a 2006 Range Rover HSE and both my wife and I have that one at the top of the list now. Which makes me a little sad, since I am a BMW guy. Oh well, ceste la vie! Appreciate all the advice.

Having driven both extensively, I can't fault you for the Range Rover, it is soo nice to drive that. you loose some dynamism but you do get a sens of serenity in it.

If I were you, I'd look for a vogue rather than an HSE so you have every gadget. Beware that up to 2005, its mostly a bmw underneath (engine, gearbox, electronics), in 2005 you find some with the m62 engine and a ford satnav (extra buttons below the two round ones) and in 2006, its no longer a bmw drivetrain (gearbox lever is on the side of the console rather than in the middle and you may have vented seats).

I was going for a Range Rover but one of my brothers showed me the X5 and I don't regret buying one even though it is smaller and more like a car. Its more fun to drive on road (off road the range rover will alway win).

If you're getting a range rover an <2006 range rover, you might want to order the all comms software so you can make sure everything is ok with the EAS (electronic air suspension). PA Soft can also scan errors on most modules from the car (tested on my other brother's 322).